Condenzio, Four Others In Running to Head HDS

Five candidates have been named preliminary finalists in the search for a new Harvard Dining Services (HDS) director, and acting HDS Director Leonard D. Condenzio is on the list.

A source close to the search said dining services officials from Stanford University, Middlebury College, Vanderbilt University and the University of Maine are also on a short list to succeed Michael P. Berry as HDS director.

The candidates have all been interviewed in Cambridge by a search committee consisting of students, a house master and college administrators and central administrators.

Condenzio has served as acting director of HDS since Berry left Harvard to become a vice president at Disneyland in April. Condenzio previously served as associate director for residential dining operations and has been at Harvard since 1991.

Condenzio was at a national university dining services conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday and did not return several phone calls.

Shirley Everett, manager of dining services at Stanford, is also reportedly on the list. Everett, too, was also at the New Mexico conference yesterday and could not be reached for comment. Members of her office staff said they did not know she was a candidate for the Harvard post.

Everett has had a large hand in crafting Stanford's meal plan, which has received poor reviews from students. In a poll conducted last spring by Stanford's student newspaper, The Stanford Daily, the school's meal plan received an average grade of C+ from 216 students. Thirty-four students gave the plan a D and four more gave it an F, while only 14 awarded their meal system some kind of A.

In addition, a high-ranking school official told the Daily in March that Stanford's meal plan is the second most expensive in the Consortium on Financing Higher Education Schools, a group of 31 top private colleges and universities.

Earlier this spring, the school launched a comprehensive review of the program, the first in its 10-year history, according to the Daily.

Frank X. Gladu, head of dining services at Vanderbilt, refused to confirm that he is a candidate for the directorship.

"It's still very preliminary, and you know, I'm not sure what I would be at liberty say," Gladu said in a telephone interview from Albuquerque yesterday.

Asked if he was denying his candidacy, Gladu said: "I'm not."

Gladu said he has been at Vanderbilt for nine years.

Although he said his observations are preliminary, he said that he was "intrigued" with the role of dining services at Harvard and the house system in general.

"I think that is a very positive way to encourage learning outside the classroom and the education of the whole student," Gladu said.

Gladu also praised what HDS has become under Berry.

"I was able to look at some of the literature, and I think that what has been done there has been very innovative and creative and perhaps a little aggressive," he said.

Ted Mayer, dining services chief at Middlebury College, also refused to confirm that he is in the running for the job.

"I don't know if I'm a finalist, so I really can't say anything about it at this point," Mayer said yesterday.

Mayer refused to answer further questions.

Also reportedly on the short list is director of the University of Maine's dining services, John Lewis.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 refused to comment on the report. Vice President for Administration Nancy H. "Sally" Zeckhauser, who will pick the new HDS director, did not return phone calls yesterday.

Sources within HDS and close to the committee have said that students and administrators are largely satisfied with the status quo in HDS.

Under Berry's leadership, HDS became a top-flight college dining program, claiming the 1996 Ivy Award for the best non-commercial food service in the country.

Berry himself won the national Silver Plate Award as the outstanding food-services professional at colleges and universities. In his five years at Harvard, he became known as the "Mealtime Messiah" among students.

Because of Berry's success, observers have said that the next HDS director should be someone who can help maintain the standard Berry set.

The search committee will meet tonight to discuss first impressions of the candidates, a source said. After the conversations, the committee may continue to interview candidates, although this list of five was whittled down by administrators from a higher number, committee member Rudd W. Coffey '97 said last week.

In an interview yesterday, Lewis responded to charges from students on the HDS search committee that they are being excluded in some ways from participating fully in the selection process.

The students said they did not receive resumes and recommendations of candidates they interviewed, were informed just one working day before interviews were to start and were embarrassed by Lewis in front of one of the candidates. In addition, the students said they received no instructions on the committee's charge and degree of confidentiality, and Coffey said that when the meetings began, he wasn't informed.

Lewis said he has always defended the role of students in the search process.

"From the first point where I became involved...one of the first things I raised was the importance and the value of getting student input," Lewis said yesterday.

The dean said his office did not handle the distribution of resumes and recommendations and that he also had been informed only one working day before the interviews began.

Lewis said he was "completely mystified" to learn that he had humiliated the students in front of one of the candidates, saying he did not recall the incident in question and denying that any affront was intentional

Ted Mayer, dining services chief at Middlebury College, also refused to confirm that he is in the running for the job.

"I don't know if I'm a finalist, so I really can't say anything about it at this point," Mayer said yesterday.

Mayer refused to answer further questions.

Also reportedly on the short list is director of the University of Maine's dining services, John Lewis.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 refused to comment on the report. Vice President for Administration Nancy H. "Sally" Zeckhauser, who will pick the new HDS director, did not return phone calls yesterday.

Sources within HDS and close to the committee have said that students and administrators are largely satisfied with the status quo in HDS.

Under Berry's leadership, HDS became a top-flight college dining program, claiming the 1996 Ivy Award for the best non-commercial food service in the country.

Berry himself won the national Silver Plate Award as the outstanding food-services professional at colleges and universities. In his five years at Harvard, he became known as the "Mealtime Messiah" among students.

Because of Berry's success, observers have said that the next HDS director should be someone who can help maintain the standard Berry set.

The search committee will meet tonight to discuss first impressions of the candidates, a source said. After the conversations, the committee may continue to interview candidates, although this list of five was whittled down by administrators from a higher number, committee member Rudd W. Coffey '97 said last week.

In an interview yesterday, Lewis responded to charges from students on the HDS search committee that they are being excluded in some ways from participating fully in the selection process.

The students said they did not receive resumes and recommendations of candidates they interviewed, were informed just one working day before interviews were to start and were embarrassed by Lewis in front of one of the candidates. In addition, the students said they received no instructions on the committee's charge and degree of confidentiality, and Coffey said that when the meetings began, he wasn't informed.

Lewis said he has always defended the role of students in the search process.

"From the first point where I became involved...one of the first things I raised was the importance and the value of getting student input," Lewis said yesterday.

The dean said his office did not handle the distribution of resumes and recommendations and that he also had been informed only one working day before the interviews began.

Lewis said he was "completely mystified" to learn that he had humiliated the students in front of one of the candidates, saying he did not recall the incident in question and denying that any affront was intentional